Protect Yourself From Tech Support Scams

Tech support scams are an industry-wide issue where scammers trick you into paying for unnecessary technical support services. Additionally, some scammers may try to identify themselves as a Microsoft MVP.

Question Info

I've had most of the same problems in this thread. Brand new laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (no XP mode). They don't tell you when you buy it that it will most likely NOT be compatible with ANYTHING you are used to using......Office, Outlook
Express, some games, some financial software. You will learn it the hard way!

Installed Office XP Pro.............it seemed to install, but then couldn't launch it, open it or use it, and then couldn't uninstall it either (it must do something to the Windows Installer in Windows 7). Installed Open Office.............it worked, but
then I couldn't uninstall it. Tried to download Virtual Box..............wouldn't download. All these attempts to install produced .msi errors (mostly 1719). All so-called "fixes" suggested did not work to solve the problem............Installer cleanup
utility, unregister/re-register, all the routine suggestions. Microsoft (as usual) was not and is not helpful.

Very LONG story short.............ran across a suggestion somewhere (don't remember where) and made a note of it but didn't try it at first because it involved making a registry change, which I don't like to do. But got desperate and figured what the heck,
the computer is already a useless piece of you know what, can't make it any more useless. So I tried it and it worked. I was able to uninstall Office XP Pro and Open Office and then was able to install Virtual Box and install Windows XP Pro and Office XP
in it.

HERE IS THE FIX THAT WORKED FOR ME: Start, then Run, then type regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENT CONTROL SET\SERVICES\MSIserver\WOW64 Right click on WOW64, then select Modify Set Value Data to
0 (mine was set at 1) and Base should be Hexadecimal Close everything, reboot, and see if you can uninstall or reinstall...............it worked for me. Don't bother with Office XP Pro and Windows 7..............it screws up everything.

I should mention that I did use the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility before I tried the registry change. Don't know if it made any difference, but it might have. It didn't, however, fix the problem on it's own.

You may encounter this error message when one of the following is true:

•The Windows Installer files on the system are either missing or corrupt.
•You are trying to install a program, such as Microsoft Office that uses the Windows Installer Microsoft Software Installation (MSI) package file that has the file name extension .msi.

Method 2: Unregister and re-register the Windows Installer to do that follow the steps provided below.

1. Click Start, click Run, type MSIEXEC /UNREGISTER, and then click OK. Even if you
do this correctly, it may look like nothing occurs.
2. Click Start, click Run, type MSIEXEC /REGSERVER, and then click OK. Even if you
do this correctly, it may look like nothing occurs, or you may briefly see an hourglass.
After you run this command, the operation is complete.
3. Try your Windows Installer-based application again.

Method 3: Try performing SFC scan on the computer.

1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow
2. Type the following command, and then press ENTER: sfc /scannow
[The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.]

A message will appear stating that 'The system scan will begin'. Be patient because the scan may take some time

3. If any files require a replace SFC will replace them. You may be asked to insert your Win7 DVD for this process to continue
4. If everything is okay you should, after the scan, see the following message "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations"
5. After the scan has completed, close the command prompt window, restart the computer and check.
Check the below mentioned link for further guidance on SFC scan –